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Abstract: Russia currently incarcerates women in conditions that amount to human rights violations. Women incarcerated in Russia's prisons experience not only oppression and abuse common to all those incarcerated in Russia, but also genderspecific harms. While Russia has signed on to many pivotal human rights treaties, it also has a long history of mass incarceration of its people. Today, the prison conditions for women in Russia reveal a need for reform. Reformers are challenged by a powerful State that has not prioritized the type of reform necessary to eliminate further harms done to incarcerated women. To ensure the rights of women guaranteed under Russian and international law, Russia must implement gender-specific prison reform. This reform must incorporate gender-specific language into Russia's penal code. International human rights laws and organizations can provide incarcerated women and their advocates with important tools. These tools could be used to encourage Russia to implement necessary gender-specific prison reform. This would be a positive step toward gender equality for women incarcerated in Russia's prison system.
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I. INTRODUCTION
On October 24, 2011, an anonymous Russian citizen posted a YouTube video that unleashed national and international outrage.1 A high angle, low quality camera shot unmistakably captures a dark holding cell, empty but for two poles, a table, and a thin unkempt young woman. She is wearing a blue shirt and standing next to the table.2 Her legs are bare. A prison guard in fatigues looms around the woman as she stands with her head lowered.3 Suddenly, the guard hits her so hard across the face that she collapses.4 He pulls her hair, punches her, and kicks her.5 He stops, and her bare leg twitches.6 Then he hits her again.7
A second video reveals a similar scene.8 The chief warden initially dismissed the videos as false; however, an investigation spurred by the authorities after the videos gained traction in national media revealed the identity of the abusive deputy warden.9 He was sentenced to two months in prison.10 Violent incidents are commonplace in Russia's prisons.11 These videos merely push the harsh reality of state corruption and abuse of Russian prisoners into the public's consciousness.
The prison system is not exempt from the gender inequalities prevalent in Russian society....